


Work in Progress

by TwilightKnight17



Series: Hours 'Verse [13]
Category: Persona 5, Persona Series
Genre: Karaoke, M/M, Romantic Fluff, Shenanigans
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-29
Updated: 2019-04-29
Packaged: 2020-02-09 21:11:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,451
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18646192
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TwilightKnight17/pseuds/TwilightKnight17
Summary: They’ve never claimed to be completely okay. But they’re getting there, together. Akira knows his greatest accomplishment won’t be finished for a long time, but he’s prepared to put in the work to make it a reality.





	Work in Progress

**Author's Note:**

> I’m sure this is going to look familiar to some people. This is a rewrite/expansion of something I’ve already posted, because I always considered that “canon”. Now it just fits a little better. ;)

**June 9th, 2020**

“The future” had always been a nebulous sort of concept. What to do with your life, how things were going to be, where you ended up… Neither of them had ever really been able to picture it.

Akira had been indifferent, at best. He always assumed he would grow up, get a normal job as a salaryman, probably meet someone nice and get married one day… An ordinary life. Nothing specific. After the incident with Shido, his outlook had grown darker, picturing always being the delinquent that had once attacked an innocent bystander, that would always have people looking at him out of the corner of their eye.

Goro had always had a pessimistic outlook on his life. He’d assumed that he would always be unwanted, unloved, constantly wearing a mask until the day he finally got revenge on Shido. And then it would have been living with the guilt of what he had done until it finally overwhelmed him. He never expected to live long enough to reach adulthood, much less have anything as close to normal as a family or an ordinary job.

And then one insane year had changed everything so much for both of them, in a way that they had never anticipated. Certainly neither of them had ever imagined finding themselves in a karaoke parlor in Tokyo four years later, working through their third drinks and belting out songs at the top of their lungs. They were using the selection of songs in English, pop songs and musicals and ‘classic’ rock, because Akira had made a very convincing argument that it was helping him practice his fluency. Ann swore up and down that learning song lyrics helped, and Goro was willing to indulge his boyfriend. Mostly.

_“Don’t stop us now, this moment of truth! Yes, we were born to make history!”_ Akira was standing on the table, belting out the theme song from that ice-skating anime that had come out a few years ago, and Goro was holding both of their drinks to keep them safe from Akira’s feet. When the song ended and Akira flopped back on the couch beside him, Goro handed him his drink back, taking the remote to scroll through the options.

“Standing on the furniture?” he teased. “Maybe we should cut you off from any more drinks. Who knows what you’ll do next?”

Akira grinned, draining the rest of his drink and then saying breathlessly, “Pick that song with all the saxophone and maybe I’ll strip for you.” He yelped as Goro elbowed him. “Kidding! I’m kidding, holy shit, your elbows are sharp!”

Goro, bright red, selected a song and grabbed the microphone. “Just for that, you’re going to put up with Featherman as my next choice.”

“I thought you hated that foreign-dubbed ‘Talon Rangers’ thing,” Akira said, raising an eyebrow.

“I do. The theme song is decent, though.” 

He proceeded to ignore Akira completely as the song started, and Akira just watched contentedly. It had taken Goro a couple of songs to get comfortable with karaoke, but now he was having no trouble unleashing that part of him that craved attention, and Akira was wondering why they had never tried this before.

_“With a power for the ages, destinies combine! Protectors of the right, defenders for the fight! Talon Rangers rise, fearless through the skies--!”_

It was dumb, and cheesy, but Goro looked like he was having fun. That was the important part here. Akira didn’t bother to refill his glass, pushing the half-empty bottle of sake aside and feeling nerves creeping back in as he watched his boyfriend smiling so happily. He wanted Goro to always be that happy and content. It was all he could hope for. And he hoped today would just be another step towards that goal.

When it was his turn again, he scrolled until he found a song from an English musical that Ann liked. Something about high school and murder; Akira had never actually seen it, but the soundtrack was good. And the lyrics were oh-so-exploitable. 

Goro didn’t know the song. He’d missed a couple of their theatre binges, but it was easy to tell that what Akira was singing didn’t match up with the words on the screen.

_“A demon of betrayal has decreed it: I will be interrogated and deleted. They’ll make it look like suicide; his boss thinks I need to die. There’s two weeks left to live; how shall I spend them?”_ Akira was grinning like a demon, and Goro’s eyes widened. _“But I don’t have to wait and face this ending. I’ve known what we could do since the beginning. Talk him down and break his walls, find the truth in Palace halls, take the stage and help him face his monsters!”_

For a moment, Akira thought he’d gone too far, unsure if the dumbfounded look on his boyfriend’s face meant he was upset or not. But Goro just asked blankly, “How long have you been waiting to do that? There’s no way you just came up with that on the spot.”

“Way too long,” Akira admitted. “And you know that notebook I’ve got with the stars that Ann bought me?”

“Yes…”

“I scribble down stuff in there sometimes. Because one day, my day will come. They will finally decide to make a musical out of our exploits, and I will be ready!” And it was fun to sit with Ann and practice English by rewriting lyrics, but that was beside the point. Regular study methods were boring; everybody knew that.

“I think rewriting existing songs has copyright issues.” Goro finished his drink as the chorus continued in the background.

“It’s an homage! Or a parody. I forget. But okay, the original lyrics are fine, too.” Akira lifted the mic again and winked at him as the second verse started. _“Sorry, but I really had to wake you. See, I decided I must ride you ‘til I break you~”_

_“Akira!”_ Goro yelped, mortified, and Akira burst into laughter and barely managed to cut the rest of the song off before collapsing back onto the couch.

“Sorry, sorry, I thought it was funny,” he giggled, throwing an arm around Goro and nuzzling his temple. “Too much?”

Goro leaned into him, trying to pretend he wasn’t holding back a smile. “I know I should be prepared for such dramatics from you at this point, but it’s still quite unexpected sometimes.” Now, however, he was fully expecting his boyfriend to kiss him senseless, but unfortunately before Akira could react, the phone on the wall of their room rang, and Goro got up to answer it. “Yes? Mhm… Akira, are we staying another hour?”

Akira shook his head. “Nah. I had something else in mind.”

Relaying that to the receptionist, Goro hung up the phone and returned to his spot on the couch. “That was our five-minute warning. What else did you have in mind? You already spoiled me rotten for my birthday last week…”

“If I just tell you, it’s not a surprise,” Akira huffed. “C’mon, we’ve got time for one more song, and then we can get going.”

Goro eyed him suspiciously, but picked up the remote and flipped through until he found a half-familiar American pop song. “I remember this one…”

“Lead the way, then,” Akira teased, and Goro elbowed him before hitting ‘start’.

_“And if there’s no tomorrow, and all we have is here and now, I’m happy just to have you… You’re all the love I need, somehow…”_

***

After they left the karaoke parlor, Akira took them back to Shibuya Station, ordering Goro to keep his eyes shut as they made their way to the platform.

“They announce all of the train stops, Akira, this isn’t very secretive,” Goro pointed out as he let Akira lead him blindly onto the train.

“Shhhh. Can you play along just for fifteen minutes, maybe?” Akira sighed, grabbing one of the overhead loops.

“Fifteen minutes? Hm… If we’re getting on at Shibuya, that means that our possible destinations are—” Goro was forced to stop as Akira jabbed his fingers into his stomach, a giggle slipping out without his permission. “Fine, fine, I’ll stop, mercy!”

The train passed several stops, and even though Goro figured out which line they were on fairly quickly, it wasn’t until the overhead chimed and announced the station at Akasaka Mitsuke that he realized where they were going. But he kept quiet as they walked until Akira told him to open his eyes, then asked, “The TV station? Why?”

“We have a mission,” Akira said, Joker’s smirk curling his lips. “It’s an infiltration.”

“You’re joking.”

“I am _not_. Come on, it’ll be fun.” Akira took his hand and led him around the side of the building, sticking to the shadows until they found a side door. Goro was about to object to breaking in, but the door opened easily, and Akira grinned wickedly. “Their security needs some work.”

Goro frowned, suspicious, but followed Akira inside. It had been four years, at least, but Goro found himself adjusting his steps to be quieter on instinct, falling into step behind Akira as they padded down a deserted hallway, lit only by the few lights that were left on at night.

“What are we even looking for?” he whispered. It was a perfectly ordinary television station. There were no traps or puzzles. And Goro couldn’t imagine Akira wanting to _actually_ steal the cameras or other equipment. They’d never been _real_ thieves.

“We’re securing the route, Ace. It hasn’t been that long since we’ve done this.” Akira flashed him a grin over his shoulder, turning down yet another hallway and trying one of the doors.

Goro was about to ask what sort of Treasure they were looking for in the real world, but Akira was already darting down another hallway, farther into the building. It was easy, though, to fall into Akira’s game. Akira was right; in the grand scheme of things, it hadn’t been that long, and the feeling of sneaking through a Palace settled back over them as easily as breathing. Despite knowing that no one would be in the building this late, Goro even found himself thinking he could glimpse shadows out of the corner of his eye, lurking just around corners if they unwittingly took the wrong path. The drinks they’d both had probably were contributing a little to the silliness, since they hadn’t quite had time to sober up completely, but they were having fun.

They slunk down hallways, darted around corners, and Goro _believed_ wholeheartedly in the pantomime, right up until Akira threw open the doors to the soundstage and declared, “This is it!”

The stage was empty despite the spotlights shining on it. There were only the couches and backdrops of a talk show, void of the telltale glow of an unformed Treasure, and Akira pouted. “I know this is the right place!”

“We’re still in reality, Joker,” Goro pointed out with a small smile. “Did you forget?”

“We’re missing something,” Akira insisted. “Check the stage, I’ll check the seats.”

There was no harm in humoring him, so Goro made his way up to the stage as Akira started poking around the first row of seats. But as soon as he got to the top of the stairs, he spotted the bright red card lying in the center of the polished floorboards. Confused, he walked over to pick it up, seeing the familiar cut-and-paste style message on the front.

> _Sir Goro Akechi, most valuable Ace of Hearts,_
> 
> _Having you as part of my life has been a blessing and a miracle. I can think of no other path that would have brought me greater joy. As such, I have come to offer you a Treasure, in hopes that you will accept it and appease my desires._
> 
> _This I swear, as the Leader of Hearts._

Goro stared at the card in disbelief. Read it again. Turned it over and looked at the mark of the Phantom Thieves. Read it a third time. “A-Akira…?”

He’d forgotten how quiet Akira could be. When he turned to look for him in the audience, he found him instead almost right behind him, down on one knee. In his outstretched hand was a box with two silver rings, both with a single tiny ruby set into the elegant band. The calling card slipped from his fingers, one hand coming up to cover his mouth.

“Do you know what day it is?” Akira asked quietly.

Goro had to think for a moment, thoughts a bit scrambled by the sight before him, but eventually his eyes widened. “It’s… This is…”

Akira smiled. “It was here, in this building, four years ago today, that I first met you. And we didn’t know each other then, not really, but everything from that moment led us to right now. One big cascade of events that I don’t think we could have stopped if we’d wanted to. And you are so, so important to me. So...” Goro held his breath, and Akira flashed him Joker’s smirk. “Will you accept this treasure?”

“I don’t believe you,” Goro choked, lunging forward. He landed on his knees, cupping Akira’s face between his hands. He crushed their lips together in a kiss, feeling his eyes welling up, and Akira laughed against his mouth.

“Is that a yes?”

“Of course it’s a yes, you absolute moron!” Goro let go of his face to fling his arms around him instead. “How did you even manage this? What on _earth_ , Akira?”

“I called in a favor,” Akira explained. “Mishima’s got a screenwriting internship, and he helped me talk to his boss about getting in after-hours. And as for the card, well… You never got one, after all. You already knew what we would be after; we didn’t need it. So, it seems fitting, that the last calling card left by the Phantom Thieves will be the one that was originally never sent.” His arms wrapped around Goro’s waist, keeping him close. “I know we’ve only just started our third year of college, but… I wanted to ask. I wanted you to know how serious I am. How serious I’ve always been.”

Thankfully he hadn’t started crying, and Goro choked back the urge to as Akira settled them properly on the stage and pulled one of the rings out of the box. It slipped perfectly onto his finger, and he whispered, “I’ve always known that, Akira. From the moment you chased me into the Theatre.” He took the other ring to put it on Akira, watching as the matching rubies glittered under the stage lights. “God, I bet all of our friends already know, because you can’t do anything without half the world knowing.” He buried his face in his hands. “My parents are going to explode when I call them. Ryoji-san will, at least.”

“Oh,” Akira said casually, “I already asked your dads. That’s how it works, right, you ask someone’s parents for permission to marry them?”

“You _what?_ ” Goro asked, making a helpless gesture with his hands.

“They were really happy.” Akira smiled.

* * *

__

_“It’s interesting to see you here without Goro, Akira-kun,” Minato said as he led the thief into the living room. He and Ryoji had been watching a movie, since it was Ryoji’s day off from work, but it was currently paused in favor of the more interesting visitor._

_“I know,” Akira replied. “I left him at home on purpose, because I wanted to talk to both of you. I...need to ask you something.”_

_“Is something wrong?” Ryoji asked, sitting up. “Are you okay?”_

_“No, everything’s fine, don’t worry, don’t worry.” Akira waved his hands placatingly. “It’s a good thing, I promise.”_

_They exchanged a glance. “...All right. What is it?”_

_“Well…” Swallowing hard, Akira managed a bright smile. “I want to ask for your permission to ask Goro to marry me.”_

_There was dead silence in the living room. Even Koromaru’s tail stopped thumping against the couch cushions. Ryoji looked like he was ready to start exuding glitter at any moment, a huge grin on his face, but before he could say anything, Minato cut him off._

_“Are you just asking because you know it will annoy Goro?” the Universe asked flatly._

_“......maybe,” Akira admitted. “But I also just...do you know… Has he ever mentioned to you if getting married is...something he wants?”_

_Ryoji laughed. “Are you seriously worrying about that? Akira, he’ll say yes. I know he will. He loves you.”_

_“You make him so happy,” Minato assured him. “If you really want our blessing, you have it, but I don’t think you need it.”_

_Akira looked at the floor, reaching up to tug at his bangs. “I’m...glad you think so. I know he loves me; I’m just anxious.”_

_“Well, stop being anxious, and come here.” Ryoji lunged over the back of the couch to grab his hand. “Have you picked out a ring yet? I want to know all the details…”_

__

* * *

“I can’t believe you actually went and asked my dads for permission to marry me,” Goro huffed. “What were you thinking?”

Akira nuzzled into his hair, squeezing him. “I was thinking that this was important, and I wanted another perspective before I did something ridiculous and annoyed you instead of making you swoon.”

“You _are_ ridiculous.” There was no upset in his words, just a content sort of resignation as he nudged closer into Akira’s hug. “I would think killing a malevolent god attempting to enslave humanity is the most important thing you’ll ever do. What is this in comparison?”

Akira pouted. “Aww, Goro, that’s depressing.”

“...what? Why? You accomplished something incredible and impossible; how is that depressing?”

“Because putting it like that means that I did the most significant thing I’ll ever do when I was sixteen,” Akira said patiently. “What does that give me to look forward to for the rest of my life? Mediocre exploits?” He grinned. “Besides, I consider my most important accomplishment a work-in-progress that won’t be done for a long time.”

Goro eyed him suspiciously. “And what would that be?”

Akira’s expression softened into something fond and warm. Goro tried to brace himself, recognizing it as a tell that Akira was about to say something awful and sappy that would probably make him cry in the state he was in, but he still wasn’t quite prepared when the former thief said, with absolute sincerity, “Making you happy.”

Bracing himself definitely wasn’t enough. “You horrible piece of trash,” Goro sniffled, flinging his arms back around Akira to hide his tearful eyes in his shoulder, and Akira laughed.

“I upgraded, at least. I’m apartment trash instead of attic trash, now.”

“You’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me and I hate you,” Goro mumbled into his shoulder.

Akira kissed his temple. “I love you too, honey.”

***

Goro spent most of the train ride home looking at his ring and the calling card, pressed into Akira’s side on the half-full train. But as they walked back to their apartment, Akira asked with a cheeky smile, “Since you liked that so much, does that mean we can have a phantom thief wedding?”

Goro shot him a dry look. “What happened to laying low on the dramatics, since a lot of important people know that you were the Thief of Hearts?”

“It would be fun! Think of the cool party favors we could do~” Akira chimed. “We could send calling cards as invitations.”

“As interesting as that sounds, I am not having a phantom thief wedding. We can be dramatic in another way,” Goro said, but he was smiling, clearly okay with his boyfriend’s enthusiasm. “I know you have a plan B, so you might as well go ahead and ask about that, too.”

Akira hummed, fishing out his keys to unlock the front door. “...masquerade ball,” he said. “The same vibe, but more legal.”

“...that sounds nice, actually.” Goro followed him into the living room with a small smile. “I would accept that.”

“Fancy invitations are a go!” Akira cheered. He caught Goro around the waist, spinning him into an impromptu waltz across the floor that ended with both of them pressed close, arms around each other. Akira leaned in to bump his nose against Goro’s, saying reverently, “I’m so glad you said yes…”

“I could never even think of saying anything else,” Goro murmured back, leaning up to kiss him.

It had been a long road to get to where they were. And there was still a long way to go. But anything that came at them in the future, they could face it.

Together.

**Author's Note:**

> Where to even start? Okay. Well. For the record, Ryuji is Akira’s best man, and Ann is Goro’s maid of honor, and Ryoji and Minato totally walked him down the aisle. And no, I’m not writing the wedding this time. They had a perfectly normal wedding. In their canon masquerade outfits. XD
> 
> If you’re just here reading this as a standalone oneshot, I love you, but you’re gonna want to skip the rest of this author’s note because I’m probably going to ramble on for a bit.
> 
> It’s April 29th, the world is not ending, and it has been two years to the day since I started posting Hours.
> 
> Being finished is a strange feeling, because I genuinely love what I’ve built. This is probably my magnum opus. I don’t think I will ever be able to top this. And I never expected this many people to still be along for the ride with me, but I’m so grateful regardless. I have met so many wonderful people in the Persona fandom since I started writing for it, and now I can’t imagine _not_ being involved in some way. 
> 
> I went a lot farther than I ever intended to with this series, and I’m proud that it’s done. That’s not to say that there won’t _ever_ be anything else, but I’m finally at a point where I feel like I can mark it complete without feeling like something is missing. And because I know you guys are going to ask: I’m not doing Royal, or PQ2. There might be a side-story with Kasumi when we know a little more about her. I might write the confrontation with Yu that would go with the AU branch. But only if I have a good enough idea. The main story ends here.
> 
> Now I’ll be able to focus on some of the piles of smaller stuff I’ve been meaning to write. XD And maybe do some art. There’s a lot of things I want to try to draw. And I’m going to continue going back over the whole series to make some small edits, just to make sure everything is internally consistent, considering how long it’s been since the start.
> 
> So. One last time. 
> 
> A link to my [Hours tag](https://twilightknight17.tumblr.com/tagged/Hours!verse) (and feel free to ask questions about anything in this verse; you’ll definitely get an answer, you might even get a drabble).
> 
> A link to the [series playlist](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZDULOqmHn6yzd5OtULNTPwiJgZFsPd1S) (which will probably continue to be added to as I edit stuff).
> 
> And thank you, with all of my heart. For every kudo, and every comment, and every bookmark tag. For every piece of art. For the [tropes page](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Fanfic/HoursVerse). For _everything_. You guys are the best. <3


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